Mail merge is a feature that allows a user to customize a document and send that document to a group of people without having to type a separate letter for each person. A mail merge process typically uses an external data source on which the template document operates to dynamically produce these personalized documents.
Many customer relationship management (CRM) systems of today are Internet-based so sales people can easily access the data remotely. However, the technologies that enable mail merge to be performed are typically found on a client-side application such as MICROSOFT® Office Word. Difficulties can arise when trying to utilize mail merge features in a client-side application with data contained in an Internet-based CRM application without having to install additional programs.